Pointing MX to DreamHost

Here's my problem. I had my domain name nameservers pointed to DreamHost. I recently changed the nameservers to point to another server, but I want to use DreamHost for my email (I know, I know, I too want to get out of here, but it's for a short while).

What MX record do I point to?

Also, since my new server does not have mail.mydomain.com setup, I need to know how and where to point the subdomain, or what alternate POP or SMTP address to use.

Thanks to the users reading this post, because I simply cannot get DreamHost to reply to my "OMG, PEOPLE ARE DYING" tickets. Go figure.

Couple of much faster ways to obtain that information on your own...

One - use the DH control panel, go to Manage Domain and click on the DNS link for the domain in question. You don't need to host your DNS here in order to access, and in your case, make use of that info.

Two - this is even faster, query the DH nameservers directly for this info using dig or nslookup. If you're using a Windows OS computer at the moment, have a look at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998082(EXCHG.65).aspx for sample instructions. You can use ns1.dreamhost.com for a DH nameserver to query.

Good luck. And BTW, since I noticed your other message on this topic and it looks like you'll be moving the email of a biz client soon - I'll tell you that a couple of my clients have been quite happy with Google Apps so far.

Again, good luck.

Ugh, it's late/early for me... I see now that your question is a two parter. I hope I've answered the "what/where" part.

As to "how"? Well, frankly it shouldn't be that hard once you obtain the above info... but you should ask your DNS mgmt service for explicit directions on the use of their system. Just (re)create the MX entries in your system and an A record with mail.yourdomain.tld that points to the IP being used at DH.

In reply to:
What MX record do I point to?

Three ways:
1. Do a nslookup in the shell on a dreamhost server.
2. In the Web Panel under "Mail>Custom MX", edit the domain you're interested in. At the very bottom, you'll find the "Dreamhost MX Records" which are the records you should put in at your new web host.
3. In the panel under "Domains>Manage Domains" click on the "DNS" link for the domain in question. At the bottom you'll see a section labeled "Non-editable DreamHost DNS records for interns.dreamhosters.com:". You should see the MX records you'll need to replicate over at your new host as well as the A records for the mail subdomain that you'll need to replicate as per your question below.

In reply to:
Also, since my new server does not have mail.mydomain.com setup, I need to know how and where to point the subdomain, or what alternate POP or SMTP address to use.

You'll need to point to the mail.yourdomain.tld here at Dreamhost using the custom nameserver records feature at your new web host.

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Edited by Lensman on 02/23/08 01:30 PM (server time).

Thank you all for responding. I have taken senor_jt's suggestions and just moved my email to Google Apps. It's free, and I had my emails setup in less than 10 minutes. Still no word from DreamHost support other than the email below:

======
Hello,

I'm terribly sorry about the problems you experienced with your mail.We had a bit of an issue last night that caused some of the password file on your mail cluster to become corrupted. We had to regenerate those, one
at a time, to restore service. This task takes an hour or two, however, should be completely fixed now!

Again, I'm terribly sorry about the problems this caused. If you need anything else, please let us know.

Thanks!

Brian
======

Still no response to my question, and the "had a bit of an issue" seems reminiscent of their "funny" billing issue at the beginning of the year. I am trying to run a business and cannot have providers with "a bit of an issue".

Thanks again for your responses.

In reply to:
I am trying to run a business and cannot have providers with "a bit of an issue".

Ha ha ha! Good luck with that ... every provider, of anything I've ever procured, has had "a bit of an issue" at one time or another. wink

--rlparker

In reply to:
every provider, of anything I've ever procured, has had "a bit of an issue" at one time or another.

Yeah, we had a "bit of an issue" at work two weeks ago and our customers pay millions. They stay with us because we provide the best service in the industry (well, we're at least in the top tier) and we're honest and transparent about our problems.

Hmm, no wonder I host my personal sites here! :)

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